One in a Million: College Student Earns a Perfect Score on Dental School Admission Test
For only the second time in 5 years, a student has earned a perfect score on the dental school entrance exam. The young woman has a 4.0 GPA and hopes to attend University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in Lincoln.
Mara Hemmer, a senior at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) earned a perfect score of 30 on the Dental Admission Test (DAT). According to the American Dental Association, she is the second student to earn a perfect score in the past 5 years. More than 12,500 dental school hopefuls take the DAT each year, with the average score being 19.
Hemmer is an honors student at UNK with a 4.0 GPA in the school’s biology, predental program. In addition to her academic prowess, she is also a star athlete, running on UNK’s cross country and track teams.
Hemmer’s interest in dentistry stems from her grandmother’s very negative experience. Due to the high cost of the extensive dental care her grandmother needed when she was young, she had all of her teeth extracted and wore dentures since she was just 29 years old. Hemmer would like to positively impact rural Nebraskans’ oral health by practicing in underserved areas.
After she graduates in May, Hemmer hopes to attend the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in Lincoln. She has also applied to the dental schools at Creighton University, Harvard University, Columbia University, and University of Pennsylvania. Click here to read more.
